I. Introductory Background Information
Probe assemblies having therapeutic and/or diagnostic capabilities are being increasingly utilized by the medical community as an aid to treatment and/or diagnosis of intravascular and other organ ailments. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,814 discloses an intravascular probe assembly with a distally located ultrasonic imaging probe element which is positionable relative to intravascular sites. Operation of the ultrasonic element in conjunction with associated electronic components generates visible images that aid an attending physician in his or her treatment of a patient's vascular ailments. Thus, a physician may view in real (or essentially near real) time intravascular images generated by the ultrasonic imaging probe element to locate and identify intravascular abnormalities that may be present and thereby prescribe the appropriate treatment and/or therapy.
The need to position accurately a distally located operative probe element relative to an intravascular site using any therapeutic and/or diagnostic probe assembly is important so that the attending physician can confidently determine the location of any abnormalities within the patient's intravascular system. Accurate intravascular position information for the probe assembly will also enable the physician to later replicate probe positions that may be needed for subsequent therapeutic and/or diagnostic procedures. For example, to enable the physician to administer a prescribed treatment regimen over time and/or to later monitor the effects of earlier therapeutic procedures.
Recently ultrasonic imaging using computer-assisted reconstruction algorithms has enabled physicians to view a representation of the patient's interior intravascular structures in two or three dimensions (i.e., so-called three dimensional or longitudinal view reconstruction). In this connection, the current image reconstruction algorithms employ data-averaging techniques which assume that the intravascular structure between an adjacent pair of data samples will simply be an average of each such data sample. Thus, the algorithms use graphical "fill in" techniques to depict a selected section of a patient's vascular system under investigation. Of course, if data samples are not sufficiently closely spaced, then lesions and/or other vessel abnormalities may in fact remain undetected (i.e., since they might lie between a pair of data samples and thereby be "masked" by the image reconstruction algorithms mentioned previously).
In practice, it is quite difficult for conventional ultrasonic imaging probes to obtain sufficiently closely spaced data samples of a section of a patient's vascular system under investigation since the reconstruction algorithms currently available depend upon the software's ability to process precisely longitudinally separated data samples. In this regard, conventional intravascular imaging systems depend upon manual longitudinal translation of the distally located ultrasound imaging probe element by an attending physician. Even with the most skilled physician, it is practically impossible manually to exercise constant rate longitudinal translation of the ultrasound imaging probe (which thereby provides for a precisely known separation distance between adjacent data samples). In addition, with manual translation, the physician must manipulate the translation device while observing the conventional two dimensional sectional images. This division of the physician's attention and difficulty in providing a sufficiently slow constant translation rate can result in some diagnostic information being missed. In order to minimize the risk that diagnostic information is missed, then it is necessary to devote more time to conducting the actual imaging scan which may be stressful to the patient.
Thus, what has been needed in this art, is an ultrasound imaging probe assembly which is capable of being translated longitudinally within a section of a patient's vascular system at a precise constant rate. Such an ability would enable a series of corresponding precisely separated data samples to be obtained thereby minimizing (if not eliminating) distorted and/or inaccurate reconstructions of the ultrasonically scanned vessel section (i.e., since a greater number of more closely spaced data samples could reliably be obtained). Also, such an assembly could be operated in a "hands-off" manner which would then allow the physician to devote his attention entirely to the real time images with the assurance that all sections of the vessel were displayed. In terms of reconstruction, the ultrasound imaging probe could be removed immediately and the physician could interrogate the images or their alternative reconstructions on a near real time basis. Such a feature is especially important during coronary diagnostic imaging since minimal time would be needed to obtain reliable imaging while the blood flow through the vessels is blocked by the probe assembly. It is therefore towards fulfilling such needs that the present invention is directed.
II. Information Disclosure Statement
One prior proposal for effecting longitudinal movements of a distally located operative element associated with an elongate probe assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,774 issued to John B. Simpson et al on Sep. 20, 1988 (hereinafter "Simpson et al '774"). The device disclosed in Simpson et al '774 includes a self-contained motor drive unit for rotating a distally located cutter element via a flexible drive cable with manual means to effect relative longitudinal movements of the rotating cutter element.
More specifically, in Simpson et al '774, the proximal end of a flexible drive cable is slidably coupled to a hollow extension rotary drive shaft with a splined shaft. The hollow extension drive shaft is, in turn, coupled to a motor, whereas the splined shaft cooperates with a manually operated slide member. Sliding movements of the slide member relative to the motor drive unit housing translate into direct longitudinal movements of the flexible drive cable, and hence the distally located cutter element. In brief, this arrangement does not appear to allow for automated longitudinal movements of the distally located probe element.